Yuka:

  Henry, you're going to be my death. I sit in the principal's office across from Mr. Nezu himself.

  "Mrs. Yamada, I'm honestly concerned, is all. Henry is brilliant, in his ways..."

  "Your letter explained it perfectly, and I see the same problems. Henry's memory problems aren't going away, though I must ask if you really expected them to, and his authority problems keep mounting."

  The small rat dog... creature... continued. "Henry is incredibly thankful; everyone reports that even if he doesn't always know proper decorum- which I must stress if decorum was the only issue, we could handle that easily. The problem is that his instincts are to doubt authority's intentions and protect what he loves. It's like he has nothing in his brain for trust." He sighs, looking at another stack of reports on my son. They aren't complaint letters, just monthly reports, but that doesn't mean they're positive.

  "Well, you can't blame him on the authority thing."

  "Mrs. Yamada, he's twelve; I can't blame him for half the things he does. Not blaming him is one of the reasons I'm holding out on serious disciplinary action, but I warn you, this school isn't normally designed for kids his age. The problem is, how are we supposed to fix his issues if he doesn't trust us? If he cares about someone on a personal level, he doesn't revert to obedience; he reverts to being protective of them." He looks down at a space on his desk. "Honestly, it's pitiable. He only wants what's best- what am I supposed to do? Punish him for caring too much? That just doesn't feel like a solution."

  "Right- so you already know why I haven't done that."

  "Well- we've got to figure out something." Nezu sighed. "Mrs. Yamada, I feel I must remind you that staying in this school isn't as easy as entering. Henry's graduation depends on meeting and often exceeding our expectations."

  "Most students don't fight the school champion just to get it," I say, putting my chin on my fist and raising my eyebrows. "I'm aware that what you put my two kids through was more than what most kids go through, and I'm aware that what they offer is more than usual. You lose Henry, and you lose access to his knowledge of the inner workings of crime syndicates." I feel I've made a point, so I sit back a little. "You can call me Yuka, by the way. We know each other, after all." Imagine trying to keep Henry from graduating- ridiculous. Anyone who spends more than five minutes with the boy could tell you being some kind of hero is his biggest dream.

  Nezu lowers his eyebrows. "Yuka, this school doesn't play favorites; we can't. Pro-hero is a dangerous career. I can't, in good conscience, lower our standards for anyone."

  I fold my arms. "Fine- well, what are those standards?"

  "Four minimums- something to recommend them, no failed classes, a GPA of at least three, and at least passable behavior."

  "And, dare I ask, if Heny had none of those, he would have never gotten in so- what does he have?"

  "His mental speed and adaptation in high-stress scenarios are hard to come by, and if I'm being honest, his misbehavior isn't really beyond the problems we have with average students, even if the professors do think it indicates deep-seated problems."

  "So he's failing classes- but it's only been a month. How many classes can you formally fail in a month?" I say with a slight chuckle.

  "If Henry had already failed something, we wouldn't be talking; he would be done. I can tell he will fail, though. Kanji and History are both hopeless for him. He barely made it in science for the first few weeks but somehow pulled things together."

  I bite my lip. "I guess that would be Henry "playing the odds" that got him ahead in science."

  Nezu's shoulders slump, "That's it? Just playing the odds? So Henry just maximized possible points- he didn't discover any method of overcoming his problems in that class; he just maximized the number of possible points he was shooting for?" Nezu examines the paper on his desk again. "I was hoping there was some method he found in science that could be applied in the other classes- really, all of his scores went up a little two weeks ago- but if that was just a change in approach, not an actual breakthrough..."

  "Nezu, look, you're not going to send a child to jail for failing a few classes... right?"

  "Don't hold that over me, Yuka. We have an excellent general studies course that is more forgiving at this school, and what's more, I stand behind it. Nothing stops Henry from changing to general studies and excelling in mathematics, programming, or other careers."

  "But he WANTS to be a Pro Hero." I put my hands on the arms of my chair and tighten them- almost ready to rip them off. I would break Henry's heart to just go into math or programming. He's a person, not just a cog in a machine. He's going to go where he dreams, not where ever he fits!

  "And your birth daughter wants to be a seagull- I've seen her running around with the goofy costume. It doesn't matter what people want to be; what matters is what they can be. Most pro heroes need more than physical aptitude; they need the brains to assist in investigations; your son will need medical aptitude- which I might as well say that his health scores are hovering in the Cs."

  "He has memory problems!" I almost yell. "That's not his fault."

  "This isn't about what is or isn't his fault!" Nezu snaps back. He hits the papers on his desk several times. "It's about if your son can do what is needed for his chosen profession. If you want to sit there and excuse every problem with his mental condition, then you'll force me to sit here and seriously consider if Japan needs a mentally disabled and traumatized hero- which is a joke." He taps the papers again. "I'm just telling you where things are headed."

  I close my eyes—no... no, I'm not letting my son down. He's only twelve, so I doubt he can figure this out alone. Besides, his attitude no doubt comes from having to do that too many times.

  "Look, this is what he wants. He has comic books about it; he still has his bandit costume- any time I ask what he wants to be, he has detailed dreams and ideas..." I fight tears. "But that's not what you need." I pause to think. "You need his grades to go up, right?"

  "Yes. Everything else we can work with. The boy's professors are trying but can't give him one-on-one attention beyond a certain level, considering how many students are in this school."

  "Well... do you have any recommendations?"

  Nezu thinks. "Well, most of the professors want to get Henry at least out of his middle school years, so you have them on your side- meaning you don't have to worry about someone fishing for a reason to kick him out. Still... if Henry has memory problems, you should research psychology and learning techniques, particularly methods concerning memory retention. Recovery Girl could guide you, and we have an excellent library on campus. As the spouse of one of our esteemed professors, you have access to both, so..." he shrugs. "If you're willing to do the work, I wish you luck."

  "How much time do I have?"

  "We grade by the quarter. Some of Henry's professors are trying to think of ways to move his classes around to work with his disability, but even IF we do that, we need him to be able to meet a baseline even with new circumstances. I think it's fair to say that if Henry doesn't turn things around in the next month and a half, I don't see a way for him to keep from failing at least kanji."

  "It's just Kanji- who cares?"

  "I don't decide what is or isn't curriculum."

  "And it doesn't matter that he's not actually IN high school yet?"

  "We're treating him as an early entrant. If we have to treat him as a refugee student- which I am willing to do, for the record- he will change to a curriculum that matches that of Hotaru Aizawa. Which means he will be doing general studies. If he still wants heroics after that in two or three years, he'll have to requalify, a process which a bad academic record will only frustrate."

  "I'll figure something out."

  "Yuka, programming or mathematics will do just fine-"

  "No, they won't!" I say, pounding the desk between us and almost launching into a tirade- but I stop, realizing Nezu is only doing his job. Still, my hands shake as I speak. "From what I can tell, that child has been through hell, and one of the only things that sustained him was his dream of being a hero. If he fails now because of a disability, it might make him think there's no way. I'll find a way." I fix my hair and clench my teeth. "Any tips?"

  "Well... Recovery Girl seemed aware of developmental dysmnesia before anyone else; she predicted he had the condition before examining him, which makes me suppose she knows a good deal about it. If I were you, I would speak with her first, then look up the condition in the DSM-5. After that, I would study the different kinds of human memory and associated study methods and... hope for the best."

  I get up, then pause. "Ya know, I've watched kids get expelled from here; they act like it's the end of the world, and I always figure- who cares? You can always try again, and there are other jobs. But each subsequent try makes success less likely, doesn't it?"

  "If you have multiple failures in your past, we have to consider that there might be a serious reason- there's are reason academies have so few adult participants. And you don't want to see the academic standards for adult participants."

  "Ya know- I never figured we would be on opposite sides of a conflict."

  "I want Henry to succeed, but yes, to a degree, my staff and I will challenge him and the other students. I suppose if you are to be his hero, in a way- I'm your villain." He gives me a side smile.

  I walk with Recovery Girl as we keep speaking. "I'm sorry Mrs. Yamada, but no. Minor cases of some conditions can be outgrown, but often, that variety of conditions is so minor that one can debate whether they even exist. In Henry's case, he failed to learn to speak until he was over six years old. His DD is very advanced, and while it may improve, I doubt it will simply go away with effort.

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  "But he has learned to communicate. He has learned math and science and writing and English..."

  "All those subjects have simple rules that build on each other: History, Kanji, vocabulary, terminology- these things require memorization and working with an active and tip-top memory. You should seriously consider talking Henry into joining hero support so he can design tech for other heroes; I have no doubt he would be brilliant at that."

  "But it's not what he wants!"

  "So?" She and I both pause.

  "It doesn't matter to you?"

  "Honestly? I figure the boy will be fine either way. The continuation of my program relies on Tori, not Henry. I'll fight like crazy to make sure she makes it, but Henry?" she shrugs. "Programming is a career that allows you to check notes and look things up. Medicine allows for that, but memory is important, too- very much so. Maybe Henry just isn't made for heroics."

  "He eats, sleeps, and dreams about it!"

  She hands me a piece of paper. "Well- here's a list of reading materials, including annotations. I know what to look into, but I don't have time to do it for a student who is, frankly, non-critical and not in a dire situation. The library is five floors down. Room G7. Do you need a map?"

  "I've been married to Hizashi for over ten years, RG. I think I can navigate the school he works at," I snicker.

  Did you know that just because you've non-commitally walked around a place a few times DOESN'T mean you know your way around? I know a place you can go to figure that out!

  What would be wrong with having the room numbers on the doors or near them? Oh Henry, you sweet boy, I can imagine how this place must drive you crazy! No wonder you ask me to take you to class...

  Wait...

  Henry doesn't do that. I typically take Tori to class. He must use the guide... that I saw on the counter this morning, and he left without it. He... he does memorize. I doubt he seriously studied how to navigate the school, but he knows how to do it after a month, so... I know he's not lying. His condition results are too noticeable to be fake, and he has too much on the line to be faking, but...

  I can't find the library, which emphasizes that Henry's memorization ability is at least present. I lean against a window and try to think.

  "Yuka!" Comes an enthusiastic young voice. I look up and smile as I see little Hotaru suddenly bounding towards me with a grin on her face.

  As I look up, I see behind her a large man with square features walking towards me. He must be nearly six feet tall, with blonde hair pulled back into a ponytail and a leather jacket, like a biker. Maybe a fellow parent or a teacher?

  He's following Hotaru, so I don't like this. "Hotaru, who is with you?" I ask. The child stops and looks back, confusion in her eyes as-

  The man touches the left wall, and suddenly, something slams into my head from the corner I'm leaning into.

  I stagger right, holding my head, and I see the man grit his teeth. "Mrs. Yamada?" Hotaru says in confusion and fear. I can see her backing away as the man grins and-

  A powerful blast suddenly throws him forward and slams him into the corner I was standing in. "Messing with MY charge, huh?" comes a voice everyone has learned by now. Bakugo Katsuki.

  Bakugo:

  I open my hand as explosions rapidly fire out of my palm. I stomp toward the wacko who just attacked the wife of one of my professors. "I walk around the corner to do some freaking flash cards for ten seconds, and some lunatic is attacking MY charge?!" I put my hands behind my back and launch toward Mr. Ponytail using two powerful blasts.

  Before I can tackle the freak, a pole of some kind of stone shoots up from the floor and smacks into my face, sending me crashing into the ceiling and sprawling on the floor. I grit my teeth. "Hotaru, grab Yuka and run!" I command my young charge.

  Even as I stayed there, it occurred to me that Hotaru was currently behind me and would have to cross in front of me to get to Yuka. I could send her away if I just wanted to protect Hotes, but no, I got this. Damnit, I'm not settling; I'm saving them both!

  As Hotaru runs toward me, I scramble to my knees and launch an explosion toward Ponytail, smashing through his weird pole and slamming him against the wall. Yuka is also tossed back, but she doesn't receive the brunt of the blast. "Start charging up, pipsqueak!" I yell as Hotaru passes me, running to get Yuka.

  Ponytail is trying to push himself against the giant impact crater in the wall as I keep my hand up and point at him, steadily walking forward. The man puts his hand on the wall and- something slams into my head from the side. The object is a kind of pole made of... stucco and sheetrock. The material the wall is made of... so his power isn't spontaneous. Were it not for my toughness factor that could have staggered me for a bit, still, this guy is limited to the materials he has on hand.

  I still have to recover my feet, but I only have a minor lump from the impact.

  "Jolt him!" I shout at Hotaru as she passes by the man.

  Hotaru's left hand swings out, electric sparks firing off it and hitting Ponytail as he slaps the ground with his hand. Hotaru is smacked in the butt by a pole made of the stone tile of the floor while Ponytail is shocked in his face.

  It was a calculated attack there. Hotaru's quirk is slow, so I told her to start a charge around her hand before using it. I also knew that without her Luciferian gas, it wouldn't be super powerful any time soon, so I had to wait to make her attack until she was close to the bozo.

  I'm trying to learn from my fight with Henry. So far, it's about planning out attacks in advance with myself and potential teammates, but eventually, just you watch twerp, I'll be thinking just as fast as you.

  It's all about mental shortcuts. For instance- "forward!".

  I say that word to myself, and my hands fly back, and two explosions fire off at one, shooting me forward before the blonde clown can recover from Hotaru's shock. "Elbow!" I yell as I turn in the air to line up my elbow, and I slam elbow first into the man, smashing his cranium through the wall.

  That got him; he's bleeding already. I step back twice and shake my arm. Then I- get hit in the shoulder by another beam of sheet rock and stucco, this time from the wall behind Ponytail. This sends me spinning, and another beam slams into my left ankle, making me face-plant.

  I don't have this guy as outmatched as I hoped.

  I swing my hand back and unleash another blast at him as fast as I can, but my hand is hit by another stucco beam, blocking the blast, which only serves to nearly make me spin again.

  Damn it! This jerk is faster on the draw as long as he can keep his hand on the corridor walls. If I don't figure something out fast, he'll be attacking both me and Hotaru, who- damn it- she's just standing there twenty feet away like a bump on a stump.

  "Mini stun!" I close my eyes and right hand, unleashing a powerful blast that puts all its energy into sound and light. The stunning attack unleashes its power before another beam can be grown and shot at me.

  One lesson I got- the enemy of precise and fast is indiscriminate! Before Ponytail can recover his senses and my hearing can recover, I swing my right fist, setting off a small explosion as it swings, slamming the punch home with so much force I swear I hear a jaw-breaking. I don't care how good of a toughness factor you have; that had to hurt!

  Before the man can recover again, I open both hands towards him and unleash two powerful blasts, forcing him to crash through the wall and out the side of the building. I watch as the creep falls a full five stories to the ground.

  I watch the man hit the ground, unsure what I'll see next. A normal person would just go splat, but this guy has been taking some serious hits, and I'm pretty sure I haven't even managed to draw blood yet. That fall wouldn't kill me, so...

  My eyes travel to Yuka and Hotaru. Yuka is kneeling on the ground—that impact on her must have been devastating if she's looking like that. Crap. It seems like this guy can do one shot, one kill on everyday people.

  Below us, the man staggers to his feet. He's made of some tough stuff; I'll give him that.

  I shout over my shoulder. "Hotaru! Run away already!"

  Hotaru and Mrs. Yamada continue to stand there as Yuka yells at me. "Young man, you're not a pro-hero either. You... you... you... should come with us."

  "I'm better equipped to fight this freak than the next student, and I can't let him get another shot like that on you," I shout back at her. "Besides, it's not like this battle has been subtle. If I can hold this guy here, I'll keep him from anyone who is easy pickings for him, and the pros will be here soon. Besides, I have him where I want him, and you can't stop me- now run!"

  I jump out of the hole in the wall before Yuka can say another word.

  I hope those two listened to me even as I'm in the air. What they decide will make the difference between this being a daring and incredible act of defense and an overly complex mess.

  Ponytail has some kind of ability to manifest bars of material from what's around him. I'm guessing that in an enclosed area, he's almost unbeatable. Also, considering the size of those poles and the fact that holes never emerged under or behind them as I crashed through them, he replicates his material; he doesn't pull it out... which is just something to file away for now.

  As Ponytail watches me, I set off two blasts in the air to keep myself airborne. It'll be hard to hit me up here with a power like his, but that doesn't mean he's unbeatable. Still, I'm kinda proud of myself. Another thing I learned from my fight with Henry is to have a goal beyond one or two attacks. I drove this freak progressively out of that hall to take away his advantages. Sweet!

  Now um... um... now what? Yeah, constantly adapting is why Henry is so impressive- damn it, though, I can do this too.

  I watch as a pillar of dirt and grass fires up at me. With my left hand, I set off a blast in the air, causing me to swing left just in time to dodge the attack. I then level an explosion at the material pole to make it collapse and free my airspace. My hands go down, and I set off two more explosions to keep myself airborne. As I do that, three more pillars go up, but these don't come at me; they just rise in front of my enemy.

  What is this guy doing- oh, I see...

  I have the advantage up here, but those posts are more than just an attack; they're material that doesn't just vanish once he's done creating it. He keeps shooting one post after another up at me or in front of himself. I can't figure out his range as one pillar shoots up, then another, then another, creating a barrier between myself and Mr. Ponytail. He's around fifty feet down, and my explosions could reach him, but there's a problem. If I put enough power into a blast to get through his growing defense and travel five stories to the ground since I'm already in the air, I'll literally fire myself out of the conflict. My explosions aren't omnidirectional, but I can't negate recoil entirely if I use too much power. That's why I like fighting up close and personal.

  How do I get a blast to him to end this?

  Another pillar, and another and another. I blast the pillars that get up to me, but they're creating a freaking wall in front of my opponent.

  Each pillar's top diameter is around six inches. C'mon, Bakugo, keep the information flowing. You saw in the hall that he has to touch the surface from which his posts emerge, and they do take some time to emerge, which is why you can dodge them out here.

  I need to brace for a big attack that gets past his defenses, but my movements aren't subtle when I use explosions to move up here, so he'll know where I go for a brace and be able to knock me off target before I can charge...

  I've got it!

  I drop thirty feet from my enemy to the ground, place my right hand forward, and run forward. Being in the air was trying too hard to capitalize on my advantage in the open. I start a continuous barrage of blasts as I run toward the wall of dirt posts where Ponytail landed earlier, which is probably close to where he is.

  If I keep moving fast and setting off blasts, Ponytail will have difficulty tracking my exact location. At the same time, I'll destroy any of these dirt pillars that go up in front of me. If I keep moving, he won't be able to nail me with a pillar like he could inside because he can only make them from the ground out here.

  Dirt pillars are an effective barrier through sheer gathered mass. However, as you might imagine, pillars of grass and dirt aren't individually all that resilient, so I can blast through them without charging my right hand, breaking rapidly through Ponytail's wall.

  He's mine. As soon as I get close enough to see him, I'll raise my left hand where I'm charging a much more powerful explosion and knock this idiot for a loop.

  I have to be close now, maybe a few feet away. I swing my left hand up blindly, scanning the dust kicked up by my attack, trying to spot Ponytail in the dust before he spots me.

  However, I don't immediately see the idiot's face- instead, my eyes fall on what looks like a big yellow bug bomb of some form. I... no-

  The improvised grenade falls just a few feet from me and fires blue Luciferian gas all around. Luceferian gas grenade. It was developed by a few entrepreneurial brats in the support classes. They were brown nosers trying to get on Mr. Aizawa's good side by giving his daughter a faster way to defend herself.

  Still, I hear her young voice. "GET CLEAR!"

  Stupid girl!

  My eyes travel to her position immediately when she shouts for me to get out of the way. I see her holding out her fingers to snap, a visual cue for her mind to launch a powerful attack amidst the Luciferian chemical.

  I have no choice. I jump sideways and roll away from the grassed area before a pillar suddenly shoots up and nails Hotaru in the chin.

  "Brat!" I scream. Freaking... crap... why didn't she just get help!? Just hearing that impact with her chin makes my stomach sink.

  Kid... you better be okay... I... Hotaru...

  You stupid brat... please be okay...